Nothing But the Blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:15-28) with Pastor Andrew Courtis

Well, do turn with me in your Bibles this morning to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Our reading is going to be from verse 15 down to verse 28.

Just before we read this text, I want to make a little comment that I don't want to get too tied up in in the sermon, but I want you to note that I'm going to be reading as I always do from the New King James.

However, in verses 16 to 17, I'm going to modify it just a little.

It's going to reflect a literal translation of the text.

And there is a little contentious debate as to how the word in verses 16 to 17 should be translated.

I'm going to translate it consistently so it's the same as how it's used throughout Hebrews.

And that might be relevant to you in just a moment, or you might think, I have no idea what you're talking about.

So let's just follow along and just note the variants I give.

Hebrews 9, and we begin in verse 15.

And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where there is a covenant, there must also of necessity be the death of the one who made it.

For a covenant is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the one who made the covenant lives.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.

Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another, he then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation.

This is God's holy word.

Let us pray.

Our gracious Lord, we thank you for your word that you've given us.

I pray that as we delve into a very rich, profound, and even heavy text, that we would be able to walk away with this, knowing that these are your words, and they're precious, they're necessary for our Christian life.

I pray that it would bring comfort to those who need comfort, rebuke to those who need rebuke, joy to those who need joy.

I pray that you would guide us now, and I pray this in our Savior's name.

Amen.

What can wash away my sins?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

No other fount I know.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Have you ever stopped to think how strange it would be for a person who's never been to church to come and listen to the hymns that we sing?

Hymns that have become so familiar with us that we almost forget how strange, how grotesque, and how confronting some of the lyrics are.

Have you noticed how often we sing about blood as Christians?

In fact, if you are familiar with your scriptures, you will see that blood is all over the Bible.

Someone might say, is that why we have red letter editions?

No.

If you were to actually make a true red letter edition to every reference to blood, a lot of the Bible would be in red text.

Blood is all over the place.

And even that hymn that I sang that is so warm to the hearts of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you hear the language carefully?

What will wash away my sins?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus to be washed by blood?

No other fount I know, a fountain that's flowing with blood?

We get queasy when we get a needle.

You prick yourself in your finger, and some people can't handle it.

They faint when they look at it.

Why do we rejoice as Christians about the blood?

Specifically, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think we ought to pause for just a moment and recognize that when we sing of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it ought to be a graphic image.

It ought to actually make us in many ways feel very uneasy.

But it is appropriate we rejoice and we celebrate.

What's so significant about blood?

Well, as I mentioned, it's throughout the Word of God, it's throughout the scriptures.

We see an inference of this right at the beginning.

The first reference by inference is what God does for Adam and Eve.

Remember, Adam and Eve rebelled against their good and kind Creator.

And Adam and Eve attempted to make themselves acceptable before God once they experience the guilt and the recognition of their sin.

They clothed themselves in fig leaves.

Pathetic effort to make themselves acceptable before God.

And he clothed them in animal skins.

I couldn't have imagined how horrific the sight of seeing a death would have been for Adam and Eve in that moment.

We see in the story of Abel and Cain, two brothers, who both worshiped God, but one worshipped God rightly, and one worshipped him wrongly.

God was pleased by Abel's sacrifice because, according to a Hebrews, Hebrews 11 and verse 4, Abel offered the better sacrifice.

He offered an offering of an animal.

He killed an animal.

He sacrificed an animal.

And even though Cain's sacrifice would have looked nicer to the human eye, it was colorful fruits and vegetables, looked lush.

Abel brings a messy, bloody sacrifice before God.

But God was pleased by what Abel brought.

Of course, you'll see sacrifices at the time of Abraham when God cuts a covenant with Abraham.

The Lord has these animals cut in two, spread apart, creating a corridor, a pathway in which God passes through that corridor, showing that this sacrifice, this blood, was an important part of confirmation for the covenant.

We come into the law of Moses, and Moses inaugurates the covenant with Israel that we know as the old covenant.

He inaugurates that covenant by getting blood of calves and goats.

He gets wool and hyssop, and he sprinkles the blood on the people, splattered on them.

He sprinkles the blood on utensils throughout the sanctuary.

We see sacrifices in the system with the Levitical priests.

There were regular sacrifices made, but we saw that great climactic moment on the Day of Atonement once a year, where there would be a sacrifice would be made, and the blood of that sacrifice would be sprinkled upon the mercy seat at the Ark of the Covenant.

What's all of this pointing to?

Why did God institute this?

What's so significant about the blood?

All of this was to be a grand drama.

To teach the people, to remind the people that where there is sin, there must be sacrifice.

Where there is the need for forgiveness, there must be the shedding of blood.

God, the good and wise creator, ordained it this way.

He modeled it from that moment when he clothed Adam and Eve.

Abel knew it when he made his sacrifice.

It was explicitly stated in the Mosaic law.

And all of these sacrifices, procedures, and practices that were tedious, that were grotesque, that were graphic, confronting, were always pointing to someone who could actually, once and for all, take away our sin and bring forgiveness.

You see, the blood of bulls and goats could never atone for sin.

No one in the Old Testament was saved because of those sacrifices.

They were all pointing to someone.

We already know who that was.

Because way back in Genesis 3 and verse 15, the Lord made that beautiful promise that it would be the seed of the woman.

He would crush the serpent's head.

But his heel would be bruised, he would be struck.

And this is why we come to John 1 and verse 29, and it just has such significance when we understand the backdrop of the Old Testament.

That as the Lord Jesus walks along, John the Baptist, who is announcing that the kingdom is about to come, the kingdom is about to arrive.

He sees Jesus and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John knew that Jesus is the one who would be the ultimate sacrifice, who would shed his blood, who would die, atone for our sins, and he is the one that all the pictures pointed to.

The types and the practices in the Old Testament were shadows, but Jesus, he is the substance.

It's significant when we think about blood, particularly associated with the covenants in the Bible.

Blood was associated with the inauguration of a covenant.

It became an outward sign and an outward confirmation.

This is how God deals with his people.

And this is what the blood did.

The blood in those sacrifices did not actually take away their sin, but it was pointing to and confirming to them what would.

And this is what takes place at the backdrop of Hebrews 9, verses 15 to 28, is the writer wants us to look at two concepts, but in looking at these two concepts, there's two covenants that he has in mind.

Hebrews 9:15–28

He's thinking, first of all, of the old covenant.

We call that the covenant with Moses.

And that's the covenant that God had cut, the covenant that he had made in the old dispensation, in the old administration.

And that was with the people of Israel.

But then we're going to learn that that was only a shadow of that which Christ would carry out in the new administration, in which he would be the mediator of a new covenant.

And what's significant about both of those covenants is that they were inaugurated by blood.

But up front, we need to know something very powerful.

Because what the writer wants his congregation to know is that the Lord Jesus Christ is better than anyone else you could ever imagine.

He is our dear Savior.

He is the mediator of a better covenant.

He's the mediator of the new covenant.

And you need to understand that everything that is being said about the mediatorial role of the Lord Jesus Christ that was inaugurated after his incarnation, after he came into this world, this mediatorial role of the Lord Jesus Christ is the result of that blessed covenant that was made between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit before the foundation of the world.

And in that eternal covenant, the triune God planned redemption by blood.

Not only did they plan redemption by blood, in time they pictured redemption by blood through sacrifices and procedures and promises in the Old Testament.

And then they personified redemption by blood by Jesus actually dying at the cross.

And then the Spirit of God applied that redemption by blood to anyone who believes.

But here's the amazing thing: when you grasp that the mediatorial role of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, which is in effect now because of his glorious resurrection and ministry, Christ's mediatorial role is the result of an eternal plan before the foundation of the world.

And what we see in verse 15 is something that is so important for us to grasp because what this does is it shows that even though our Bible is called Old Testament and New Testament, there is actually a unifying thread through all of Scripture.

And that unifying thread is not that there are two peoples of God, not that there are two ways of salvation, not that there is a plan A or a plan B, not that there is reactive work of God in anything, but there is a unifying work.

Look at what verse 15 says.

And for this reason, what reason?

On the basis that Jesus offers a better sacrifice and better cleansing, for this reason, he's the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

What that's saying is that for those who are in the old covenant, and it's going to go on and say, in those who are in the new covenant, there's only one way in which they're redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed at the cross is applied to those who had come before as they look forward to the promise.

It's just they received the application of the blood of Christ in the old administration through the Mosaic Covenant, but it wasn't the Mosaic Covenant that was saving them.

It was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And those of us in the new covenant, we are looking back to what the Lord Jesus Christ's death had done.

So his glorious and powerful death brings salvation and application to those who were before him and to those who are after him.

And this is not a shock at all because Revelation 13 and verse 8 tells us that he was slain before the foundation of the world, showing that this redemption was always a part of the eternal plan of God.

All this does to me is makes me step back and say, How big and glorious and great is our God.

And when he then begins to issue promises in his covenants and announces things to Abraham, like, I am going to through your seed bless the nations.

We know that this is happening because of this glorious plan.

Well, verse 15 reminds us of this all-sufficient, glorious atoning power of Jesus Christ that atoned for the sins of all of his elect in the old covenant and in the new.

How glorious.

But this is now what brings me to the heart of the passage that we're going to see.

And there's two points that we're going to consider, and we will look at this not in the closest of detail, but we'll consider the main points.

I want you to see in verses 16 to 22 the first point, and that is the significance of blood in the covenant.

The significance of blood in the covenant.

So, first of all, Let's look at the significance of blood in the covenant.

I want to read to you verses sixteen to eighteen.

For where there is a covenant, there must also of necessity be the death of the one who made it.

For a covenant is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the one who made it lives.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

What this is telling us is simply the fact that where there is a covenant arrangement, if one has broken that covenant, if one is in debt to God, there must be a sacrifice, there must be death.

This is what God has required.

And the point that the author is making here is he says, look back at the covenant that God made with Israel through Moses.

God had condescended into this covenant arrangement with the nation of Israel.

And this covenant was inaugurated with blood.

Verse 18, therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

And we have the picture in verses 19 to 21.

Moses spoke all the precepts of the law of God to the people of Israel.

He took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool and hyssop.

He sprinkled the book of the law of God itself.

He sprinkled the people with blood.

And then Moses declared these stunning words in verse 20.

Do those words sound familiar?

A thousand years later, just over, Jesus will be in the upper room with his disciples.

As they break bread and as they take the cup, he will say, This cup is the blood of the new covenant.

Jesus here is inaugurating the new covenant.

The new covenant begins.

Remember that new covenant promised with the house of Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31.

We learned about it in Hebrews 8.

Jesus inaugurates it there.

He declares that this begins.

But the pictures that were taking place with Moses were just pointing to, were a preview of what the Lord Jesus Christ would accomplish.

The writer continues, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

According to the law, almost all things were purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

So as the people were seeing this graphic image, it was the responsibility of the priests to teach the people that this is what this blood is telling us.

It's a reminder, people, that you've sinned.

It's a reminder that God is holy.

It's a reminder that we have broken his law and that there must be a death.

We are covenant breakers.

And this is reminding us that we are going to break the law.

That's why he gave them the law.

And the law would first of all show them that God is holy, that they are not.

The law would show them that they are sinners.

The law would also be a kindness in which it would curb evil, but it was appointing them to their need for Christ.

And of course, when they believe and trust in Christ, then they will love and delight in God's law.

All of this was a picture of the significance of sacrifice.

That's why blood was a part of this old administration.

It was constantly reminding them, day in and day out, we are in need of a sacrifice.

But that longing should have grown for them.

Because every year the high priest had to go back again on the Day of Atonement and make a sacrifice.

This ought to have been a reminder that these sacrifices are only pictures, they're only shadows, they're not the substance, it's not final because it is repeatedly offered.

But this is where the writer brings us to the real practical, encouraging element for us.

Because I want us now to think, what does this all mean for us?

How does this help us in our Christian life?

Verses 23 to 28 remind us of the superiority of Christ's blood sacrifice.

He summarizes in verse 23 by saying, Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but that the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

In other words, if God required that the earthly sanctuary, which was only a picture of the heavenly sanctuary, if the earthly and lesser sanctuary was to be purified with blood, how much more should there be a greater sacrifice brought to the heavenly sanctuary?

Right?

That's his point in verse 23.

And what he's now going to show us is why Christ's blood sacrifice is superior.

What Jesus accomplished is far superior to anything that the Old Testament ever accomplished.

Because the Old Testament was always limited.

Remember, we learnt a few weeks ago, when you see the tabernacle, there should have been a sign above it that people would have constantly been reminded, and that is limited access.

We're blocked out.

We can't come to the throne.

God is showing us the only way in which it's to be done.

And just as we walked through all the earthly temple and tabernacle furniture, all of this was giving us that drama.

Remember, you walk into the tabernacle and you look on one side and you see a table of showbread.

On the other side of the wall, you see the candlest.

Right in front of you, you see the altar of incense going up, symbolizing prayer.

You see the curtain, behind the curtain, you see the Ark of the Covenant.

And on the Ark of the Covenant, you would see drops of blood.

And behind that Ark of the Covenant were two angels.

And the writer has already hammered home this point that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills all of this.

He said, I am the bread of life, John 6.

I am the light of the world, John eight.

In John 17, he prayed up incense and prayers on behalf of his people.

John 19, he shed his blood at the cross.

The curtain was torn in two.

He was buried in the tomb, and when the ladies went to the tomb, they saw two angels there.

Christ is superior.

This was always pointing to him.

But why?

Why is it specifically superior?

And why does this mean something to us?

I want you to just note three things in verses 24 to 28.

I want you to see in these verses three appearings of Christ.

He's appeared three times.

And these three appearings of the Lord Jesus mean something to us, and it points to us why his once and for all sacrifice is superior.

I want you to see first of all his present appearing, and we see it in verse 24.

I want you to then see his past appearing, verses 25 to 26, and I want you to see his future appearing, verses 27 to 28.

Because of his blood sacrifice, let's look at the significance of these three appearings.

First of all, his present appearing.

Verse 24 for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Christ did not appear in the earthly sanctuary.

He didn't put on the priest's robes, he didn't carry out those procedures, he was of a different priestly order, remember.

He went to the heavenly sanctuary.

But what did he do in the heavenly sanctuary?

We're told in verse 24, he went into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us.

I have been struck by those last two words of verse 24.

For us, do you know who you are?

You have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

You've broken his law.

You haven't loved the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

You haven't loved your neighbor as yourself.

You've served other gods.

You've spoken God's name in vain.

You've broken the Lord's Sabbath.

You have hated people in your hearts.

You have lusted in your heart.

You've coveted after things that are not yours.

You have stolen people's time.

You have stolen things that do not belong to you.

You have been lazy.

You haven't worked, you've deceived, you've lied.

This is us.

Yet verse 24 says, He went to heaven to appear in the presence of God for us.

This is breathtaking.

Have you ever stood alone?

Have you ever stood alone where you need to do something very important?

And you feel like I can't do this by myself.

And in some of those moments where you've had to stand alone, perhaps in the face of a difficult meeting or criticism or something that's hard, and then you think of those moments where someone so precious to you says, I'm with you, they stand with you.

God gives us these moments in life where there'll be a friend, there'll be a family, and they stand with us.

And in the midst of that moment where we feel like this is going to be hard, this is going to be difficult, you feel loved and supported and strengthened.

But that pales into insignificance to know that by ourselves we are guilty before God and we're alone.

And we must give an account to him.

But then the Lord Jesus says, I've gone before you, and I've gone to the presence of the Father for you.

That's why the Apostle Paul could say in 2 Timothy, when he felt so abandoned by many people, that he said, But the Lord is with me, he has strengthened me.

Verse 24 teaches us that because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an appearing of Jesus in the present that benefits us.

Because of what Christ has accomplished for you at the cross, that means something for you now.

Christian, you have access to God.

You have access to his throne.

Bring your anxieties, bring your fears, bring your worries to the throne of grace and know that there is a high priest who says, I said they could come.

They are mine.

Father, they are the ones that you gave me before the foundation of the world.

They're the ones that I died for, they're the ones that I cleansed for, and I ever live to make intercession for them.

Wow.

Christ appears presently and actively and lovingly because of his once and for all sacrifice.

Christian, take comfort in this wonderful reality.

You are never alone because you have a high priest who is always living to pray for you.

That's Christ's present appearing.

Now let's look at Christ's past appearing.

Why is his blood significant and superior?

It's because of his past appearing.

Not only should he offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another, but then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world.

But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

What that's simply saying to us is that if he was like the earthly priests, then the Lord Jesus would have to be making a sacrifice every single year.

And given that he's the eternal Son of God, he would have had to be doing that since the foundation of the world.

That's a long series of sacrifices you'd have to be making.

But the writer has already established he died once and for all.

At the cross, it was definitive.

When he appeared at the cross, he made one sacrifice, and that one sacrifice covered the redemption of all the elect in the old administration and in the new.

It was a once and for all act.

It was a sufficient death.

This is what makes his blood superior.

It's superior because he didn't have to sacrifice himself many times.

He did it once.

And not only that, it's superior because the earthly priests would sacrifice the blood of an animal on behalf of the people.

And that animal, first of all, was separate from the priest.

Secondly, the animal itself couldn't take away sin.

Jesus didn't offer any animal, he offered himself, and because he offered himself and is the sinless Son of God, it is sufficient.

It is done, it is finished, it is once and for all.

But also look at what it says at the end of verse 26.

But now, this is referring to this redemptive moment in history.

Once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

What does that mean?

He came from our vantage point 2,000 years ago, and he offered himself at the cross, yet the text says he did it at the end of the ages.

What this is telling us is that the great consummation of the kingdom of God that will occur at his glorious return.

The kingdom of God, the age to come, has broken into the presence by the one who inaugurates the new covenant.

This is bringing the victory in which the kingdom of light breaks into the kingdom of darkness.

This the age to come comes into this present evil age.

And that's why we are able to affirm when we talk about the kingdom of God, the already not yet.

This is why we are able to affirm what this text says.

This text tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ had done this.

And this is the same as what we read in Colossians 1, where it tells us, um, taking the imagery rather of Galatians 1 and verse 4, that we've been delivered from this present evil age.

We're still in a present evil age, but we're delivered from it.

Why?

Because we've entered the kingdom of God's dear son.

The age to come has broken into the present, yet it's not yet fully seen.

The glory will only be seen when the Son of God returns in power and majesty.

But what the writer is emphasizing here is the power of Christ in which he brings this consummating work in the inauguration, as he now, once, at the end of the ages, has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This reminds us that we are able to say that if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, all our sin is dealt with.

Are you feeling guilty for today's sins?

Then remember your Savior.

Look to your Savior, not to your works, not to your efforts.

Look to Christ and see the sufficiency of his death.

Finally, we see his future appearing.

The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is significant and superior because of his future appearing.

Verse 27 and 28, for as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin for salvation.

The Lord Jesus Christ is going to appear again.

He appears for us now in heaven.

He appeared for us at his incarnation and then at the cross.

And he will appear again at his second coming.

But this time, in his second coming, it will not be to deal with our sin, it will be to complete our salvation.

The Christian experience says salvation in three tenses.

There's one salvation, but one salvation in three tenses.

When we think of the past, that's referring to the doctrine of justification, in which God saves us from the penalty of sin once and for all.

We learn that in uh Romans 3, verses uh 24 to 26.

We also learn that there is salvation in its present tense, that's sanctification.

Christ saves us from the power of sin.

Uh think of uh 1 Corinthians 1 18.

It says that we are being saved.

But then we think of salvation in its future tense, that's called glorification, where we will be saved from the presence of sin.

So salvation saves us from sin's penalty, it saves us in the present from sin's power and will one day save us from sin's presence.

And this is the great thing that we have to look forward to when we behold the face of our Lord Jesus, the thing that ought to excite us most about heaven isn't as exciting as it is the fellowship and the reunion of saints, nor is it the beauty of a new creation, nor will it be the fascination of a resurrected body without blemish.

The greatest thing in the glory of heaven will be to be made just like the Lord Jesus and to behold his face.

And we can be confident to expect that appearing because of what Christ has accomplished for us at the cross.

He is going to come for those he has purchased.

And the amazing thing is that what Christ once offered for the sins of the many, that's all that the Father had given him, those who are alive now eagerly wait for him.

And we ought to eagerly wait.

And how do we eagerly wait for the Lord Jesus Christ?

We eagerly wait for him by energetically, faithfully, and fervently carry out the fruit of the Spirit and the will of Christ in this world to the glory and honor of his name.

We go into all the nations.

We declare the lordship of Jesus Christ.

We display it in our lives, in our homes, in our work ethic.

We show the lordship of Jesus over everything.

We declare his magnificence.

We shine his light.

We shake salt in this world.

We cling to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We live for him.

We love him.

We look to him.

We set Christ before us.

Christ behind us.

Christ within us.

Christ before us.

Christ is our all.

He is the one that we proclaim.

And all of this is true because He came into this world and atoned for our sins once and for all.

The Lord Jesus Christ can do what the earthly priests could not do.

They weren't able to represent you before the presence of God.

Jesus can.

Jesus can.

Jesus can and will.

Why can we say this?

Why can we hold on to this?

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh precious.

We are going to sing of this precious fount.

This precious fount that cleanses us from our sins, that makes us whiter than snow.

May our hearts be overflowing with gratitude and thanksgiving as we adore our Lord Jesus.

Let us pray.

Our gracious Lord, I thank you for what the Lord Jesus Christ has once and for all accomplished for us.

I pray that as we reflect upon these words that we now offer unto you, receive the praise that belongs to you, but give us the comfort that we need.

Help us to be humbled before you, and help us to cling to our dear Savior.

I pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.